Born and raised in the Czech Republic, Kamil Foltan has spent the last 10 years travelling and working across Europe & Asia, finding his current home in Singapore.

He began his career studying at hospitality and tourism school, and supported himself by picking up shifts in cafes, nightclubs, pubs, restaurants, fine dining establishments and hotels, which “enabled me to understand all of the different types of food and beverage establishments,” he explained.

“The biggest influences on me during my youth were my father, grandfather and uncle who were all strong personalities involved in many parts of food and beverage; from hotel operations and winemaking to running restaurants back at home.”

Coming from a hospitality background had a huge natural influence on Kamil: it seemed that “everyone knew this was the industry for me”. Of course there have been plenty of ups and downs, but with a positive attitude Kamil has always loved the places he has worked.

“Over time, my mentors have included such personalities as Tony Conigliaro, Zdenek Kastanek, Ryan Clift and Dre Masso,” he revealed.

“These days my days are scheduled based on projects we are involved in. In the morning it’s straight to work at our home office, in the afternoon I have a break with my son and then I continue working till late. My work varies from building beverage programs, revising operations for our clients, getting ready for events and working on articles for The Indigenous Bartender website.”

Kamil said, “I love flavours and different cultures. This is where I drive inspiration from and of course in meeting new people in the industry. My wife and family motivate me.”

He continued “There are several people that I look up to and they are all from different industries. This allows me to see things with fresh eyes.”

“When I start bartending, I had to do presentation about one of the classic cocktails from all around the world. Guess what I have picked up Singapore Sling and if someone told me that I will be living I would not believe it at all. Through my research about Singapore Sling, I have learnt that it was the original cherry liquor for the cocktail that I have fallen in love with. (Both, the cocktail and the liquor). Since then, it is part of my back bar all the time

“As the co-owner of a company we also aim carve our own path,” he finished.

Of trends in the industry, Kamil noted “I’ve found that recently the subjects of locality, seasonality, sustainability come up in conversation quite often.”

“In regards to drinks in particular, classics such as Negronis, Old Fashioned, Sours, Daiquiris and Martinis are still very popular.”

Kamil’s Sling

50ml Tanqueray Ten

10ml Cherry Heering

10ml Triple sec

10ml Benedictine D.O.M.

25ml Lemon juice

10ml Homemade grenadine*

Top with soda

Method: Pour ingredients into Tiki mug and stir. Add crushed ice and top with soda.

Julie’s path from 18 year old cocktail server to international cocktail icon is a long and beautiful one, and looking at her career, it seems as if she planned it all along. Reiner grew up in Hawaii, surrounded by the bounty of flavors and ingredients of the islands. She worked as a server in a cocktail bar for a while, but eventually moved to San Francisco to, among other things, begin her career behind the bar.

Just over a decade ago, I had the privilege of getting to visit New York City for the first time in my life. I was nervous and excited, and upon my arrival I got to fulfill one of my longtime dreams. I checked into my hotel, dropped my bags, and went downstairs and hailed a taxi. And just a short while later I was finally seated at the first New York cocktail bar on my list: Julie Reiner’s Flatiron Lounge.

She started at the now-defunct Red Room, that legendary club known for all manner of “Tini” served in oversized glassware. The bartenders would train her in military fashion, shouting drink orders at her and throwing her to the wolves daily until she got up to speed behind the bar. Which she did, successfully, until her then-girlfriend and now-wife Susan was accepted at NYU for grad school. And that’s when everything began to snap into place for Julie Reiner.

She followed Sue to New York, and began working at C3 Lounge, a hotel bar on Washington Square Park. It was there that she met Dale Degroff. It was there that she got her first piece of press from the New York Times. And it was there that the attention she received resulted in her being pushed out of the bar and onto her own.

The unique approach that Julie brought to the New York cocktail scene could only have come from her personal history. Growing up in Hawaii gave her a unique perspective on fresh flavors and warm hospitality. Training in San Francisco gave her insight into a seasonal and locally-driven culinary approach. Working in New York gave her an interest in and appreciation for classic cocktails. And in 2003 she took all of this and poured it into her first bar: the now iconic Flatiron Lounge.

The Flatiron is a sort of Art Deco love letter to old New York drinking. Classics are presented with perfection. Originals are crafted with the freshest ingredients. And the hospitality and space are both warm and inviting. In the early days of Flatiron Lounge, Cherry Heering was one of her favorite modifiers. The cocktail-minded bartender wasn’t able to procure as many liqueurs back then, especially high quality ones like Cherry Heering. Heering was used quite often on the menu, and she loved that it had such a long history.

In 2005, Julie partnered with Audrey Saunders to open Pegu Club, now another New York staple (and the second New York bar on my list of places to visit). In 2008 she opened Clover Club in Brooklyn. All three bars opened to rave reviews and have enjoyed a top ranking among the best bars in the world. In 2009, Clover Club was honored with the award for “Best New Cocktail Lounge in the World” at Tales of the Cocktail, and in 2013, took home the awards for “Best American Cocktail Bar”, and “Best High Volume Bar”. Julie was personally awarded “Best Bar Mentor” as well.

In 2015, Julie opened Leyenda, a pan Latin bar and restaurant with Ivy Mix, a long time bartender at Clover Club. Leyenda celebrates spirits and imbibing traditions from across the Spanish-speaking world and beyond. Julie’s consulting company, Mixtress Consulting, helps to create top-notch beverage programs and cocktails for restaurants, bars, resorts, and spirits companies. Her book, The Craft Cocktail Party: Delicious Drinks for Every Occasion was released in 2015 as well.

The year she selected is 2010, the year that she and Susan opened up a modern tropical cocktail bar in Manhattan called Lani Kai. It was designed much like the modern hotels are on the islands. This cocktail, the Lani Kai Sling, was actually created for the opening menu. The idea was to create a rum riff on the Singapore Sling.

The Lani Kai Sling uses a split base of Hawaiian Agricole Rhum, and a white rum from Guyana. The rums are combined in a cocktail shaker with Cherry Heering, Benedictine, Cointreau, house-made grenadine, fresh pineapple and lime juices, and Angostura bitters.The drink is shaken with ice and strained over fresh ice in a Hurricane glass, then garnished with a pineapple wedge, umbrella, and Luxardo cherry.

Julie’s career is a study in perfection, a nearly-perfect progression in this business, and one based on the ever unattainable goal of perfection. She not only makes the world a better place for her guests, she improves the lives of the people that work for her, and she gives us all, no matter how far we might live from New York, something – and someone – to look up to.

Modern history shows that art students often have an affinity for finding summer jobs in the hospitality industry – at entry level it’s pretty easy and you get to meet new people all the time. Usually it’s not a permanent career – but Joe Schofield has made it so.

One step at a time, Joe has gained experience under some of the most accomplished experts in the bartending world. Principally at some of London’s internationally renowned cocktail bars – including The Zetter Townhouse; and The American Bar (No. 2, The World’s 50 Best Bars 2016)and Beaufort Bar at The Savoy; and including stints in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.

“When I was 16 I took a part-time job in a local pub which was 10 minutes away from my house,” Joe said recently, “Two years later when I went to university in Leeds to study contemporary art, I started working at cocktail bars there, and that’s when I fell in love with the cocktail world.”

His rapid climb up the regional bar ranks was assured when he placed in the top five of the Bombay Sapphire World’s Most Imaginative Bartender competition, Followed quickly by coming in as a Global Finalist at the Beefeater Mix London. And as well as being picked to judge at the Bacardi Legacy regional finals in the United Kingdom, Joe most recently took his place as an International Bartender of the Year top 10 contender in the Tales of the Cocktail’s 2017 Spirited Award – all in the span of four short years.

In 2016, Joe had moved from behind London’s legendary bar venue at The Savoy to Asia to join the Tippling Club in Singapore – a city where he had – like many before him – enjoyed his first drink of the Singapore Sling in The Long Bar at Raffles Hotel.

With 10 years of experience behind the bar, he is well equipped to take on the position of Head Bartender at Tippling Club and Group Bar Manager overseeing the bar programmes for Ding Dong, Open Door Policy and Open Farm Community.

Dedicated career moves or serendipity? Perhaps a magical combination of both!

“It’s a challenge, though one that I embrace, to develop bar programmes for various establishments. It’s important that they complement the distinctive cuisines offered and yet are strong enough to stand on their own,” Joe rightly avers.

As Joe explains, “The menu and drinking experiences are definitely going to showcase the synergy we have between kitchen and bar, in terms of both flavour and technique. I think a drink should always tell a story and be representative of the venue. In the new menu, we have developed quite a few out of left-field garnishes with help from the kitchen. And some drinks will tell a story using conceptual ideas.”

Their menu has since won the plaudits of industry experts and bartending authorities alike, paving the way to a prestigious top 10 spot in the World’s Best Cocktail Menu category of the Tales of the Cocktail’s 2017 Spirited Awards.

“I believe that the current trend in the industry today is with more and more bartenders starting to look towards the kitchen for inspiration. It is a huge privilege being able to do this on a daily basis at Tippling Club. There’s always so much to learn from that side of the F&B world!”

Joe further explained how to increase staff knowledge and experience. “At Tippling Club we actively encourage all team members to spend more time learning from different departments and aspects of hospitality. Some of their options is to spend time in the kitchen as well as taking part in wine training and tastings with our sommeliers.”

Of course, all of this continuous research has gained attention, and since joining Tippling Club, Joe has been instrumental in racking up an impressive array of accolades for the bar. In 2017 the venue placed at No. 11 in Asia’s 50 Best Bars awards, brought home the title of Best International Restaurant Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail’s 2017 Spirited Awards as Singapore’s only winning entry, and by being named Best Restaurant Bar for a second consecutive year at The Bar Awards Singapore.

In celebration of Cherry Heering’s 200th anniversary, Joe says his cocktail was inspired by the extremely iconic Cherry Red Ford Mustang that was created in 1966.

“I wanted to work with flavours that play well with Cherry Herring and were relevant to our beverage philosophy at Tippling Club where we blur the lines between kitchen and bar. In the Mustang we use an Apple Cider Gastrique, a combination of caramel and apple cider vinegar that works beautifully with the flavour profile of the Cherry Herring.”

MUSTANG

35ml Bourbon

15ml Cherry Heering

27.5ml Apple Cider Gastrique*

1 Dash Peychaud Bitters

Glass: Rocks

Method: Stir all ingredients with ice and serve on one block ice

Garnish: Long lemon and long orange twists

*Apple Cider Gastrique:

20ml Caramel Syrup

7.5ml Apple Cider Vinegar

Caramel Syrup:

200g Caster Sugar, 4tbsp Water

Heat caster sugar in pan with water on a medium/high heat without stirring.

Gently brush sides frequently with a wet pastry brush. In 5-8 minutes the bubbling mixture will turn to a light blond colour.

“When it comes to bartenders, you often can divide them into two teams: The ones who hunt down flavours and love the idea of putting many of them in a glass, and the ones who love the idea of using as few ingredients as possible. Both ways can create awesome drinks. It is more a question of personal style,” explained Joerg.

“Next to some basil affairs, I am more the second type of bartender,” Joerg continued.

“I love classic cocktails, and for me a truly perfect drink has as few ingredients as possible. If you ask someone for a drink, and he or she serves you a two ingredients drink, this person has courage.”

Examples of such drinks are The Rusty Nail: “a famous two-part drink, often terribly sweet, sometimes executed by a master as a perfect drink,” Joerg continued.

The Padovani is the modern version of this idea, a drink that Joerg mixes a lot of in his Cinchona Bar in Zurich. He also enjoys playing around with dozens of versions of Gin & Tonics: “I have fallen in love with this kind of strong, two ingredients player.”

“You learn over time that in a two ingredients drinks, there is no place to hide cheap or weak ingredients. Two ingredient drinks are very honest; they tell you everything about the bartender and the ingredients.”

Regaling a story from a few years ago, Joerg recounts that he invited Hidetsuego Ueno to attend as a guest at Le Lion Bar de Paris, a masterclass on Japanese ice handling: “I talked to him about my love for simple drinks, and I knew that he agreed with me.”

Joerg continued: “I will never forget the first time I met him on the Cocktail & Spirit Stage in Paris, where he served us all the Bamboo Cocktail. His White Ladies are legendary. From then I knew, this was the right person to talk to about perfect and simple drinks.”

It was during an afternoon playing around behind Le Lion Bar with Ueno that Joerg was introduced to Cherry Heering: “He introduced me to a simple yet difficult Cherry Heering drink, the Hunter Cocktail.”

“He mixed me about two parts of a strong Noah’s Mill Bourbon with one part of Cherry Heering, and served it with his well-known smile. BOOM. I loved it. Bourbon and Cherry Heering. That’s it. You do not need anything more to create the perfect drink.”

Following this encounter, Joerg began to practice mixing to perfect the ratio: “After that first perfect sip of a Hunter mixed by Ueno, I started to search my library for this drink and I found a few old recipes. The oldest I could find was from 1914.”

“Jacques Straub calls in his book Drinks, for a one to two ratio with Rye Whiskey. Ueno explained to me that he had changed it because Bourbon was a perfect match, and I agreed.”

On this note, Joerg started to play around with “different, younger and elegant Ryes,” finally settling on Vulson Old Rye for the perfect Hunter, with a modern twist.